Indicator of Liquidity

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A cocktail called Disco Sour contains the ingredient Butterfly Pea Flower, a flower extract that causes a drink to change color. The Butterfly Pea Flower extract is frozen in a blue ice cube. Once the drink is poured over the ice cube it changes from blue to violet.CreditHunter McRae for The New York Times

FRIDAY PUZZLE — I am nothing if not efficient, and now that the 75th birthday of The New York Times Crossword has been celebrated, the Atlantic has been crossed, the holidays have been holidayed and we wind down to New Year’s, I have finally found the time to come down with what the humorist Dave Barry once called the Martian Death Flu. It was only a matter of time, and yes, I got my flu shot. It wouldn’t be the Martian Death Flu without that kind of punch line.

The reason I even bring this up is because, along with the flu, come the cotton-brained responses to STIMULI, like not understanding why MNOP is not the correct answer to “Letters before Q?” (the answer is LGBT) or why WRINKLE isn’t the answer to “It might come with age.” So it probably took me longer to complete David Steinberg’s lively puzzle than normal, even with a healthy dose of DayQuil, but it was well worth it.

There’s quite a bit of sizzle here. We have seven debuts, including EVIL GRIN cuddling up to DEAD SEXY, as well as the finger-licking good CINNABON and LAMB ROAST. Mr. Steinberg’s stack in the southeast — JOY BUZZER/LAMB ROAST/OKEY DOKEY — is a lot of fun.

But what you are really here for are the clues. “You might clean yours up or put one on” is a dandy misdirection for the simple word ACT. Someone might make a “Bad impression?” on a date or an interview, but a DENT is a truly bad impression in a car, even if it can be hammered right out.

All in all, a very nice way to spend some time on the last Friday of the year, Mr. Steinberg.

Tricky Clues

1A: You have not truly lived until a note comes home in your child’s backpack cheerfully informing you that one of his classmates has come down with a case of head lice. When The Boy was in kindergarten, I discovered that just about anything can be washed in hot water with tons of bleach. And that nit pickers are a real profession; they come to your house and check everyone for bugs. Sorry, I drifted; the actual answer to “Checks for bugs” is BETA TESTS.

22A: A nice, fresh clue for the ubiquitous Mt. ETNA.

27A: POETS might write about stress, but they are concerned about it as a matter of meter, as in putting the emph-AH-sis on the right syl-LAH-ble.

29A: The letters LGBTQ stand for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer. There is also I for intersex and A for asexual.

43A: We’re not really “Sticking it to?” the man here. This is more of a literal interpretation, like when a bull GOREs someone.

2D: I haven’t heard anyone say “EXACTO” to mean precisely, but it’s possible that someone out there does say it. Sometimes this gets into a puzzle when the constructor is under the impression that the brand name of the knife is spelled this way, but it’s actually X-ACTO, a common mistake.

3D: Ah, the “Power of old films” to make you weep or laugh or … hey, wait a minute! We’re overthinking this one. The answer is the actor TYRONE Power.

6D: Hey, kids! The actress Georgia ENGEL is best known for her role as the lovable and somewhat dim Georgette Baxter on “The Mary Tyler Moore Show,” but has also appeared on “The Office” and “Two and a Half Men.”

9D: The cold open on “Saturday Night Live” is when a sketch begins without any introduction.

Constructor Notes

This puzzle gets the label #TBT, where TBT stands for Throwback Themeless rather than Throwback Thursday. In fact, the original version dates back to July 2014. I was on a themeless constructing jag at the time, so I wasn’t expecting to see this puzzle run any time soon. That said, when Will started publishing one more recent themeless of mine after another, I started wondering whether this themeless was being held back for a reason.

A couple months ago, I decided to revisit this grid and see if anything egregious jumped out at me. My attention was immediately drawn to the lower left corner, which had a few entries I didn’t like much anymore. I asked Will if I could revise it, and he graciously said yes.

Hope you enjoy this one, and here’s to a great 2018!

Thank you, Mr. Steinberg. Please remember to push fluids and get as much rest as possible. Oh, wait. That’s me.